434 FLIGHT International, 28 March 196s
Fifty Years of
| British Sperry
The company's factory and laboratory at Brockne//, Berks
BRITISH Sperry operations began in 1913 at a small factory in Pimlico, London. The first customer was the Admiralty, and HM Submarine E.l was the first of many British warships
to have a marine gyro compass. Adoption of this aid by the
merchant service followed the Great War, the first British ship so
fitted being RMS Aquitania in 1919. These practical developments
of the gyro compass were largely attributable to Dr Elmer Sperry,
on whose brilliant inventiveness the American Sperry Company was
founded. His work was the subject of 362 patents, covering such
activities as an electric coal digger, a mining locomotive, a motor
carriage, searchlights and a railcar flaw detector.
In 1915 Sperry in Britain became the Sperry Gyroscope Co Ltd,
with head offices in Victoria Street, London. Two years later, to
meet increasing demand, production facilities were transferred to
larger premises at Shepherds Bush. The development of flight
instruments and automatic flight control proceeded concurrently
with the marine applications. In 1914 Lawrence Sperry, Dr
Sperry's son, flew "hands-off" over Paris with his mechanic standing
between the wings while the aircraft was being controlled by the
Sperry "airplane stabilizer." Lawrence was awarded a prize of
50,000 francs for his contribution to flight safety, and it is sad to
recall that he met his death in an aircraft accident (due to engine
failure) off Rye, Sussex, in 1923.
By the latter year Sperry had introduced the ships" gyro pilot—
subsequently dubbed "Metal Mike"—and today over 70 per cent
of world shipping navigates with the company"s compasses and
gyro pilots. Growing demand for their products led to a further
move to the Great West Road, Brentford, premises which are today
the headquarters of Sperry in Britain. Production at Brentford
started in 1931, by which time the company's aero instrument
business was becoming substantial. The Sperry blind-flying panel
set the standard for instrument flying from that time until after
World War 2. During the latter, Sperry was heavily engaged in the
production of AA gunfire predictors, and this activity is today
reflected in automatic fire-control contracts for the Admiralty
which form an important part of the Stonehouse factory's
work.
Sperry had pioneered the first aerial torpedo—a true guided
missile—in 1914. Patent rights were handed over to the Air
Ministry in 1924, but today the company has many GW interests,
including the ship-to-air missiles Seaslug 1 and Seaslug 2, a ship-
borne-equipment development contract for Seacat, and now the
new CF.299 guided-weapon system for small ships. British Sperry
also manufactures ships' inertial navigation systems for the
Admiralty.
Today the company is a recognized leader in control "On Land, At
Sea, in the Air and in Space." Among many important accomplish
ments, the following are outstanding: 1948, the first harbour-
supervision radar in the world, at Liverpool; 1954, the first British
inertial navigation system to fly; 1960, the first British ballistic-
missile navigation and control system; 1961, the first aircraft in
space, the X-15, flies with British Sperry accelerometers; 1962, the
Seaslug ship-to-air weapon enters service and the GPO commission
their first automatic exchange, with Sperry memory store.
Traditional aero and marine skills are now being extended to
cover new applications, not only in the glamorous fields of missiles
and space but also in industrial automation. The work of Sperry in
Britain is now covered by nine groups, employing 3,500, at Brentford
and Isleworth, Middlesex (marine, industrial and service groups);
Bracknell, Berkshire (aero, guided weapons, stable platforms and
R&D); and Stonehouse. Gloucestershire (naval/military and
nuclear). The company is responsible for almost half Britain's
exports of aero and marine navigation instruments, and has
customers in over 30 countries.
1-"ENGAGE AUTOPILOT' By NEIL SULLIVAN, BSc, AlnstP, FRAeS»
THE Wright brothers succeeded, where so many others had failed, in achieving successful powered flight, principally because
they made their Flyer slightly unstable. This enabled the weak
control moments—which were all that they could apply—to
manoeuvre the craft; but it also demanded constant attention from
the pilot to prevent unwanted, and therefore dangerous, divergence
from the desired line of flight. In rough air—which in those days
meant anything above a flat calm—the pilot's mastery over the
elements was at best marginal.
Only six years later, in 1909, the first aircraft flew with a gyro
scopic stabilizer. Development of their device culminated in the
Sperry Gyroscope Co taking the Grand Prix in the Concours par
VUnion pour la Securite en Aeroplane en France (French Safety
in Aircraft Competition) in 19I4. As the aeroplane developed,
particularly under the impetus of the First World War. manual
control was rationalized; and the need for artificial stabilizers
receded, as a new generation of aircraft appeared, the best of which
practically flew themselves.
In subsequent years the Royal Aircraft Establishment, which
had played the leading part in this work of improving stability and
control, was responsible for the resumption of automatic-pilot
development in this country. But the purpose was now rathe:
different; the aircraft were reasonably stable in themselves, and aii
that was required was the gentle correction of cumulative errors
to maintain a compass course and altitude. This work produced the
long series of RAE autopilots which gave yeoman service throughout
the world up to the end of World War 2. In America, Sperry hal
a spectacular success in enabling Wiley Post to fly solo round th:
world in eight days in 1933. The equipment he used was develope.l
"Director of aero engineering, Sperry Gyroscope Co Ltd.